[dirtycrv]

Living in a rural area has its perks, but car-destroying rats are not on the list. In addition to chewing through many wires, the stupid rats had been getting inside the cabin and making a mess. It took a bit of exploring to determine where they were getting in. It ends up there is an opening at the top of each wheel well that gives them access to the cabin air intake. Sealing these openings is the key to keeping them out. It's not very hard to do.

1. Remove the windshield wipers.
2. Remove the black plastic cowling located at the bottom of the windshield by carefully prying the clips out one by one. Most of the clips are located along the top.
3. Now you have access to the cabin air intake and the two entry points for the rats. The entry points are the at either side where water drains out. (see picture)
4. Clean all the rat urine (it attracts more rats). Simple Green works good for cleaning up the urine.
3. Seal the entry points using 1/4" hardware cloth. It can be pressed into place to make good seal, then secured with foil HVAC tape. (see picture)
4. Just to be safe, I sealed the cabin air intake too.

A couple more notes:
Pinesol works pretty good as a deterrent. Spray in wheel wells and engine bay.
Pepper spray on wires helps prevent chewing. (Obviously use caution.)

 

[kloker]

Welcome to the forum! What year is your CR-V? Each generation is somewhat different. Sounds like you need you some yard cats. Also, I'd add a layer of window screen under the other wire, to keep out the mud daubers and other bugs. Nice job!

We had an incident at work where one of the trucks (a Freightliner) had a slight anti-freeze leak. One morning it wouldn't start, so we had to call the shop to send over a service truck. He came in and said the truck was seriously damaged and would have to be towed to the shop. What? We looked at the security cam footage and found the culprit from the night before. It was a possum! It destroyed the engine harness and some HVAC and coolant hoses. Took two weeks and $9,000 to fix it. Unbelievable! Only ever happened that one time. That possum was attracted to the smell of the anti-freeze.

 

[dirtycrv]

Thank you. Lots of great info on this forum. Amazing how much damage critters can do, and how quickly they can do it. One possum = $9K, ouch!

Thanks for the tip on the window screen. Great idea. My CRV is a 2002 (should have mentioned that in the thread title). Pack rats are the main culprit for us. They've chewed through sensor wires, fuel lines, ignition wires, and lots of insulation. Keeping the hood open at night helps, plus a shop light aimed under the engine bay. Getting some yard cats would really help. Thanks again!

 

[kloker]

Yeah, we don't have scorpions here at this house, luckily, but we do have brown recluse spiders. One got me twice on my left arm a couple summers ago when I picked up a bag of mulch on the patio. Not an experience you want to repeat. Those bites drove me very nearly insane for two months! We also have a lot of geckos. The cat loves those! They don't build nests (what a mess!), but they do leave poop everywhere, like mice. At least the lizards eat spiders.

Well, let's see some pics of your '02! I was looking for an '05 or '06 with a 5-speed for almost a year before I gave up and got an '07. Oh, well.

 

[racoon]

When I went to trade in my 2006 5 speed for a 2014 the salesperson didn't want to take the 2006, as he said it was impossible to sell a vehicle with a manual transmission.
I contacted a different Honda dealer in the area, who was very happy to get the manual trans as a trade-in, as he had a waiting list of people who wanted one. They also gave me a better price on the 2014.

 

[kloker]

Shoot! If I still had 'em, I'd give my eye teeth for one in good shape. In fact, I'd highly consider trading my '07 for one now if I could find one. Oh, well. How many miles did it have on it when you traded? I did find one, but it had 150k and a black interior. I can't do a black interior in Austin.

 

[otto888man]

Thanks for sharing!